“Find the Metaverse that wants you.” Creative Director Erin Kilkenny and Art Director Lili Emtiaz talk Animal Crossing, subreddits, and world-building for brands.

“You’re Gonna Love the Metaverse”

Trollbäck + Company isn’t exactly a small family business, but Director of Client Partnerships Ryan McRee writes about why the “+ Company” in our name defines a studio culture that feels that way. 

Small Family Business

Can AI build brands? Chief Creative Officer Alex Moulton puts ChatGPT, a new language-generation software, to the test and gets fascinating results.

Can I Use ChatGPT as a Tool for Branding?

Senior Animator Marcelo Meneses writes about the sometimes-overlooked world of video games when it comes to finding inspiration for motion graphics. 

Finding Motion Graphics Inspiration in Gaming

Building brands has a lot in common with making movies – they both require emotional, evocative, compelling stories to succeed. Executive Director of Creative Strategy Bo Bishop writes about how having a background in filmmaking is his “secret sauce” for articulating strategy.

Five Films That Inspire Me as a Strategist 

Junior Designer + Animator Krysta Coates on what it’s like to start your first job remotely, and some tips for young designers doing the same. 

Navigating a First (Remote) Job

For our series Art All Around, Staff Writer Jo Beck visits the permanent home of Dan Flavin’s elegant light works in Bridgehampton, NY.

Art All Around: Dan Flavin 

Senior Designer Diksha Watwani has taught at SVA since 2016. She's found a balance being both a teacher and a perpetual student. Read her essay on our website.

“There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.”

Diksha Watwani on Teaching at School while Learning on the Job

Our design interns Jo Iijima, Mel Petzoldt and Yunjia Yuan chat studio life, work styles and reflect on their time at Trollbäck.

"I've learned to pay better attention to the outside world and find inspiration everywhere."

"It’s really important to think about things from a higher level and know that things can keep evolving."

Q&A: Summer Internship Wrap-Up

What could web3 mean for the future of advertising? Trollbäck’s Creative Director, Fran Roberts dives into the burgeoning potential of contextual advertising in a rapidly evolving digital landscape with The Drum.

“The wider use of AR and VR-capable devices and platforms will add the multi-sensory experience into the equation for the first time.” 

The Drum: Fran Roberts on Contextual Advertising 3.0

When first starting at Trollbäck+Company several years ago, Chief Creative Officer, Alex Moulton got a piece of advice from our founder, Jakob Trollbäck, that has stuck with him ever since. It now informs most of the decisions we make as a studio.

“When your focus is building brands that stand apart in a complex business environment, having a "house style" is antithetical.”

Alex Moulton on Muse By Clio: "We Should Never Repeat Ourselves"

Our Creative Director, Fran Roberts, chats with Fast Company about how brands can play an active role in getting ahead of social media giants and take charge of their metaverse experiences to create more engaging and deeper connections with audiences.

"The metaverse is in turmoil, and it hasn’t even been built yet."

Fast Company: The Metaverse is a Second Chance to Right the Wrongs of Social Media.

Executive Creative Director Elliott Chaffer talks with Creative Review about how our co-created program .movtogether offers a more personal and conversational approach to mentorship and created a space where newcomer creatives felt supported and more primed to enter the industry.

Creative Review: How Young Creatives Benefit From More Informal Mentorship 

After our recent collaboration with Mixteca, Design Director Nadia Shireen Husain talks with 'Design Is Everywhere' podcast about how to build a brand that helps connect a community to their mission. 

Designing For A Community: Nadia Husain talks branding Mixteca on the ‘Design Is Everywhere’ podcast. 

This month in Creative Pool, CCO Alex Moulton calls the creative industry to action for a radical new era of truth and transparency in branding.

"The time for “beautiful lies” is over. Branding in this new era must be about powerful truths."

Creative Pool: In 2021, Brands Need to Be More Honest

This month, Associate Creative Director Nadia Husain shares her thoughts on making design memorable and meaningful for a new era of creative empathy.

"A lot of people in this industry use the word “impact” — a word that can have so many different meanings to so many people. As an artist and designer, what does “impact” mean to you?"

"Some of my other techniques are in observation. Listen, read, watch, especially when representing perspectives that are different from my own."

Nadia Husain: Designing For Impact, Influence + Identity

Among the many pivots that brands will need to make in a post-COVID-19 world, there’s one oversight that no one seems to be discussing yet: the rising relevance of Gen X.

New Digital Age: Why Gen X Suddenly Matters More For Brands

A glossary of real-talk terms and techniques for the modern creative.

Muse by Clio: What We Talk About When We Talk About Design

With the spread of misinformation and online scare tactics, strategist Asia Hunt explains how we've entered into a growing economy of fear — and how brands, as primary communicators in our digital ecosystem, can lend a hand in diffusing this fear.

"It is now more important than ever for brands to be transparent and concise in their messaging."

Incendiary Headlines: How Brands Can Keep COVID-19 Messaging From Fanning a Dangerous Flame

This week, Trollbäck’s executive director of client partnerships David Edelstein was featured alongside a number of creative and agency leaders on Promax’s Daily Brief offering advice on how to get (and stay) creative during these unprecedented times.

"It’s made us at Trollback a much better team, seeing how people have risen up and supported each other."

Promax: How Agencies Are Getting Creative During COVID-19

For our latest design list, we’ve outlined a list of resources and ways you can help fight the effects of COVID-19.

Design List: How To Help Fight the Impacts of COVID-19

As hundreds of studios around the world transition over to remote, flex, and socially-distanced schedules, it’s no surprise that many of us are turning to the internet for tips and tricks on how to cope.

Creative Review: Designing the Perfect Work From Home Experience

This week in Retail Customer Experience, CCO Alex Moulton shares his thoughts on how to optimize in-store experiences for a new era of IRL interaction.

Experiential Retail: How Can Screens Improve the In-Store Experience?

This week on Fintech Futures, CCO Alex Moulton shares his thoughts on how big finance can ready itself and navigate the changing financial services market.

“Just as 50 years ago you trusted your bank with its solid, imposing presence on Main Street, today you may choose to trust because it looks like Uber, Instagram, or Spotify.”

Fintech Futures: Taking on the Apps

In the latest issue of CEO Today, CCO Alex Moulton talks about the importance of brand voice, messaging, and visual communication in today’s increasingly "social" landscape.

CEO Today: The Three Cs of Global Brand Consistency

We share a few tips and tricks we’ve learned through the past 20 years that can help brand managers make things funny without falling flat.

Designing With Humor: Five Ways Brands Can Be Funny Without Falling Flat

Trollbäck CCO Alex Moulton was recently published in Brandberries, the first branding gateway of the Middle East and Africa.

Effective Brand Storytelling: The How-tos

Is it time for your brand to take a stand?

Digital Darwinism: The Do’s and Don’ts of Brand Activism

For our latest Trollbäck List, we created a list of 10 essential TOV traits for brands to consider, and a quick explanation of when (and when not) to use them.

Shaping Brand Voice: 10 Essential TOV Traits and When to Use Them

Creating real visual effects in-camera is something I am passionate about. Call me “old skool,” but I strongly believe that now, more than ever, it is important to create work with personality and a human touch that breaks free from the sameness of work created with today’s over-obsession with plug-ins and render engines.

In-Camera Effects: “Keeping it Real” in a Post-Digital Culture

Dieter Rams and his “10 Principles of Good Design” have had a huge influence on my practices as a designer, and continue to be a great reference for creating simple, effective design solutions.

Beauty + Logic: Design Still Matters

When we tell our stories authentically, we achieve real, lasting human relationships and open ourselves up to new worlds of possibilities and opportunities.

Beauty + Logic: I Share Therefore I Am Not

Latest posts

Chief Creative Officer Alex Moulton and Executive Creative Director Rosie Garschina love big challenges. On this week’s Graphic Design USA podcast, they discuss the beauty of collaboration and how multidisciplinary backgrounds inform their creative approaches and leadership. Link in bio for the full episode.

Graphic Design USA: An Interview with Alex Moulton and Rosie Garschina 

Featured

"It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."


"Every idea is a juxtaposition. That’s it. A juxtaposition of existing concepts."

"To spark my creativity…I often re-use pieces from my other works…basically collaging my own stuff…"

"I absolutely believe my best work lies ahead of me, and lies in the work I’m absolutely on fire to steal from."


"Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known."


"Don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it."

Stealing Dreams: The Art of Pulling References

“Art resides in the quality of doing. Process is not magic.”



“I have never expected anything from my work but the satisfaction I could get from it by the very fact of painting and saying what I couldn’t say otherwise.”

“Your eye is a muscle, you have to keep it in shape and the more you draw, the more you see.”


Insights and inspirations from our studio